Before Rosemary's Baby
by zooman
Summary: My story is set during the first Rosemary's Baby novel, and is about Roman first making the pitch to Guy about joing the coven.


BEFORE ROSEMARY'S BABY

Guy sat rather uneasily on the sofa alongside Roman Castevet. The two men sat quietly smoking cigarettes, while from the kitchen, came the faint sounds of Rosemary and Minnie chatting amongst themselves, while washing dishes. Guy glance at the wall in front of him, puffed on his cigarette, then quickly turned to face Roman, who was looking directly at him in a curious sort of way. Roman took a deep breath, then slowly ran his fist over his chin. He then took another puff of his own cigarette, and looked directly into Guy's dark eyes. "Quite a nice place you got here," complimented Guy, as he raised his eyebrows and casually looked about his surroundings, "but then, the Bram is quite a place itsel..." "Guy," interrupted Roman reluctantly, "I...I ...didn't tell you the truth at the dinner table." Guy pushed his eyebrows together and looked with interest at the older man. "JERRY LEWIS JUST KILLS ME!" Minnie's voice suddenly spoke loudly from out of the kitchen, "THE MAN JUST CRACKS ME UP! HAHAHAHAHA!" Roman and Guy both immediately turned their heads in the direction of the voice. "WELL I LIKE WOODY ALLEN!" replied Rosemary's voice, equally loudly, "HAHAHAHAHA!" The chink, chink sounds of dishes being washed mixed in with the sudden loud voices of the two women. Roman leaned closer towards Guy while calmly shaking his head. "I didn't tell you the truth at the dinner table. My father was no theater producer...he was the warlock...Adrian Marcato!" Roman's voice took on a deeper, darker tone. Guy looked directly at Roman and his mouth dropped open in awe. He smiled weakly. "You're kidding me?" the younger man asked. He chuckled grimly. "Well...ah...yeah." "I'm sorry I had to lie to you before," apologized Roman quietly, "I had no choice." He took another puff on his cigarette. Guy joined him. "I couldn't afford your wife getting onto..." "It's alright," interjected Guy nervously. He reached over and put out his cigarette in the gold ashtray on the coffee table beside the sofa. "Look...uh," Guy was lost for words as he kept chuckling and shaking his head fearfully at Roman, "uh...a friend of ours told us all about Marcato so...yeah...I can understand why you'd want it a secret." Roman leaned back comfortably and took another puff of his cigarette. "But why tell me?" asked Guy timidly. Roman sighed and studied Guy intently. "Look Guy, my father practiced witchcraft, he created a witch coven in the Bram which exists today." Guy's mouth dropped open again as he looked with horror at Roman. "Wow," he said at last. "I myself am the head of the cult in the building now," admitted Roman, creepy like. "Anyways...the pitch. You have great acting talent guy! You have it in you to become one of the all time great stars of the 20th century! But...," Roman leaned closer towards Guy, while taking a long drawn out puff on his cigarette, "you need the breaks. You need the one big, break that will put you on top." Guy folded his arms over his chest as he listened to every word the older man said. "My coven can fix things for you. We have ways of getting struggling but talented young men like yourself the breaks they need to get ahead." Guy smiled faintly and looked down at his then looked at Roman again. For some reason his mind flashed back to that time he met actress Gena Rowlands backstage at a play. "That's why you travel so much, the coven?" Guy asked Roman. Roman just nodded. "As I said, we help talented but struggling ones get their big break." "Ok," answered Guy. "And you're offering me a place in your group is that it?" Roman sighed. Then he nodded. He took another puff of his cigarette. He then reached his arm over and put out his cigarette on the ashtray on the coffee table. He then began stabbing his forefinger against the palm of his hand while looking at Guy. A plane of blue smoke hung in the air above the sofa. "The point is this," explained Roman strongly, "we have a system in the Bram which can help you get ahead. You would join the coven and become one of us." Guy just smiled again and shook his head. "I don't know," he muttered, "what's the catch?" He looked into Roman's face and stared uneasily at the older man. "What do you get out of all this?" Roman paused for a second then continued. "You would lend us your wife," Roman answered in a strange tone of voice. Guy gulped. He began repeatedly stabbing his palm with his forefinger again. "The price is nine monthes use of your wife." "What?" Guy asked in fear, but with much interest. "What do you want?" "Your wife would not be hurt in anyway," assured Roman while jabbing his forefinger against his palm, "and the reward for you would be the big breaks you've been hoping for for so long." Guy's body tensed up. "I don't know what to say," replied Guy very quietly, "but I'm desperate to get ahead. I see so many non talent jerks get ahead while I'm always stuck in the background. That Tony Curtis lookalike Donald Baumgart for example." "Ok look," said Roman in a very, VERY serious tone of voice while continually jamming his forefinger against the palm of his hand, "if your interested, come back here tomorrow night at seven and I'll explain more to you about the deal." Guy just sat staring in bewilderment at Roman. "You finally have your big chance Guy, don't muck it up. But the price will be Rosemary for some monthes." Guy cleared his throat. "That weird chanting and flute playing that I hear from the wall, at night sometimes. That's your coven?" asked Guy mildly. "Yes," confirmed Roman sullenly. He looked about the walls of his apartment reluctantly. "I had to take down a portrait or two of my father, so as not to let your wife on." "I understand," said Guy. "I had to hide a life size statute of him as well," added Roman, "tomorrow night everything else will be explained to you." "You have a lot of people in your coven?" inquired Guy nervously. Roman nodded slowly. "One of our members is the famed Dr. Abe Sapirstein," the elderly man answered coldly, "you'll meet him tomorrow night." "Sapirstein?!" said Guy in surprise. "I saw him on Open End the other night!" Roman smiled and looked down at the floor. He folded his hands over his lap. "Well Dr. Sapirstein is known as something of a maverick in his medical circles. He was the one who investigated that guy living in that one castle in Europe in the 1940s, who thought that he was a werewolf on the moors,"Roman laughed a little. Roman then got serious again and began stabbing his palm with his forefinger again, while looking directly at Guy. "Just think it over over night. Just think about my offer."

At that moment, Rosemary and Minnie both bounded out of the kitchen and into the living room...


End file.
